I'm sorry to hear about your dog. I went through that several years ago with my Siberean/German Shepard of 15 years. The horizontal spine seems to be a bad design.
My XW hates animals and thinks they are filthy. Not long after we married, she insisted that the cats and dog live in the garage and the back yard. I should have stood my ground.
After I booted her from the house, the cats were invited back in to live with the kids and I as a family. It was pretty funny to see the expression on W's face when she came to pick the kids up one day and noticed the cats lounging around with the kids in the living room. She wanted to say something, but she knew that the kids already liked having the cats in the house.
